Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1917 edition. Excerpt: ... unity of purpose among all these men gathered from the four corners of the earth. (8) I do not think that any Canadian, or indeed any Briton or Frenchman, could look upon the valley (of Ypres) without being very greatly moved. In the country toward which we looked, around Ypres, following the sweep of the hills to Messines on the right and another town on the left, we were told how many had fallen and found their graves within ten months. When we remember that all this is due to the insensate and criminal ambition, to the lust for power and prestige, of perhaps not more than a score of men; when we recall the efforts that Sir Edward Grey made, almost successfully, to stay the hands of the German Emperor on the eve of the outbreak of war; when we remember the pledge that Sir Edward Grey then gave; when we realise that Austria at the last moment was willing to draw back, and that the mobilisation ordered by Germany without any further conference with the other European powers brought on a war which, I believe, was intended from the first, surely all of us will agree that the awful cemetery of the Ypres valley will be a monument of everlasting infamy to the memory of the men who forced this war upon Europe and upon the world. Briton and Frenchman may well be stirred in looking down upon that valley. I hope there will never come a day when any Canadian can look forth upon it without the deepest emotion. While we realise that the achievements of the First Canadian Division have perhaps been more fully told than those of any British troops during the war, still we know the story has not been completely told--that perhaps it has not been half told. Picture to yourself for a moment the condition. The Turcos and Algerians, who were holding that line next...show more